CURIOUS GERMAN CEREMONY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

CURIOUS GERMAN CEREMONY

WHOLE VILLAGE TRANSPLANTED.

Aii interesting ceremony took place on .Saturday, July l.'i, at New Bench, in-the principality of VValdeck-Pyrmont, when Prince Frederick laid the foundation .stone, not of a new, but of an ancient Liothic chapel which formerly stood at Old Berieh surrounded by the usual cluster of quaint farmhouses and homesteadr-. i'he village of Old Berieh, 'however, is an obstacle in the construction of the Edder River dam, which will have an area of 20 square miles and a maximum depth of 150 ft. The village, which has existed for 300 years, was therefore marked for extinction, and all the inhabitants received notice to leave their houses, which are to be levelled to the ground. New dwellings were erected at Xcw Bench, some 30 miles away, and Home of the freshly painted walls resemble in great measure the deserted village. The church, erected in the twelfth century, lias been taken down, and the ceremony on .Inly 13 was the lirst step in its re-erection, on the new site . A large crowd witnessed the ceremony, a.nd the pastor in an address said be trusted that the reputation of Old Bench would remain n* before, stainless of serious i crime.